The Young Party
by Kid-Incorpo1986
Summary: What if Julia decided to keep the baby and didn't miscarry? The story begins just as she has left the clinic. Includes JustinJulia and hinted GriffinJulia.
1. Default Chapter

"They called my name and I just walked out. I couldn't go through with it. I thought, 'What am I giving up?'...I don't think I can do it."  
  
"It's alright," he took her hand in his, relieved that she was finally letting him in. "Just talk to me."  
  
"I'm not gonna do it."  
  
He squeezed her hand, gently sealing their fate, "Okay."  
The car ride home following her decision was awkward. Justin kept stealing glances at Julia whose eyes were glued to the world beyond the passenger side window. He sighed, arbitrarily fiddling with the car radio even though he knew it was as broken as it was the day before. Only one day earlier they'd laughed at the faces he'd made when trying to fix it while at the McDonald's drive-in, grabbing a bite to eat before heading to a local elementary school to tutor for National Honor Society points. Yesterday their greatest concerns had been reading to snot-nosed kids so that they could graduate on-stage with honors next spring. Today their concerns had turned sharper, becoming suddenly so much greater. However great, Justin understood that they'd have to take everything day by day, one step at a time.  
Julia stood before her full length mirror, touching her stomach trying to picture what was to come when Claudia burst into the room, giggling at something Bailey was yelling to her, an inside joke from a Pauley Shore movie. She pointed to the phone beside her bed, "God Julia are you deaf? The phone's been ringing all night for you. It's your boyfriend."  
  
"Claudia can you knock?" she snapped, "Tell him I'm not home alright."  
  
"Jeez, yes your majesty, and would you also like me to fluff your royal pillows?" she quipped before shutting the door behind her.  
  
"Good one Claud," laughed Bailey from his bedroom.  
  
Julia locked the door behind her and returned to her reflection. She struggled to make sense of it as tears welled in her eyes. This sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen to her, the honor student. What would everyone think of her when she really did show? More importantly, what would her parents think? What if they were there to see her like this? They would have been so disappointed.  
  
"Julia!" boomed Charlie as his feet thudded up the stairs, "Julia!"  
  
Julia's attentions were jerked to the door behind which stood her eldest brother, frantically twisting the knob and pounding the door like a maniac. Annoyed, she yanked open the door, "What the hell is your problem?"  
  
"We gotta talk. Now."  
  
"What?"  
  
Charlie ticked his head behind his shoulder eyeing Claudia and Bailey who eagerly peered from Bailey's bedroom to see what was going on, anticipating a juicy Julia/Charlie throw-down. He shut the door behind him.  
  
"What Charlie? What the hell is going on?"  
  
He opened his jacket and pulled a slender box from the inner pocket, the empty box from her pregnancy test, "I was taking out the trash."  
  
Julia faltered. She was prepared to be angry. In fact she wanted to fight. But with this there was nothing to say. She quietly sat down on her bed, pulling a pillow onto her lap.  
  
Now calmer, he asked, "Well, what is this Julia?"  
  
"Charlie you know exactly what it is."  
  
He shook his head at her defeated mannerisms and tone, she scared him, "Julia, please tell me that you are not..."  
  
A book on the vanity caught her attention. The Motorcyclist's Guide to Zen ,it was recommended reading from Justin. It'd been sitting there for a while and all she'd read so far was the back cover. Any of her extra reading time had always been spent on the phone with Justin, or daydreaming about Justin, or lying in Justin's arms. She wondered if she'd ever get around to reading it now.  
  
"Please answer me."  
  
She took her time answering him, looking into his eyes, watching as his hopes for the response he wanted to hear drained away, "I'm sorry."  
  
Charlie sat beside her, placing his hand over his mouth, "Me too."  
  
"Julia, what...?" He stopped, let the question fall to the ground. He started again, "How...?"  
  
The Garfield clock Charlie had given her for her tenth birthday ticked amid the stifling silence. Charlie was dumbfounded, and Julia was too ashamed to speak.  
  
He stood up, almost whispering, "God Julia, I can't even....I don't even know what to say. This-this is not you."  
  
She shrugged, almost lifelessly.  
  
"I can't even begin to deal with this," he walked to the door shaking his head, "What can I...?"  
  
Again his question lost itself somewhere between his mind and his lips. He left the room without finishing his sentence, gently closing the door behind him.  
"I guess you wanna ride the bus, huh Julia?!" Bailey shouted, angry at his sister's sudden slowness. It was so unlike her, normally she was the one pulling the covers off of him before finally leaving with Justin. Last night however she had very adamantly told Bailey that she was riding to school with him. Bailey knew that something was going on with them; he assumed it had something to do with Griffin's unannounced visit the week before. He briefly pondered how he and his siblings managed to lead such complicated love lives before shouting, "That's it Jule, call Justin, hop on the bus, call a cab, whatever I'm out of here. I gotta meet Sarah early."  
  
"No! No, I'm coming, I'm here," she shouted as here feet hurried down the stairs. She was wearing the same jeans from the night before with a wrestling t-shirt Bailey had begged her to buy for a fundraiser, a t-shirt she usually save for occasions of grandeur such as sleeping or cleaning the bathroom. Her hair was uncombed, but a brush was ready in her right hand. She had no make-up on and her face was decidedly puffy, "I'm ready."  
  
"Did Miss Perfect oversleep?"  
  
"Shut-up, Bailey."  
  
Outside Justin pulled up just as Julia threw her bag into Bailey's jeep.  
  
"Lemme drive you to school Julia,"  
  
With a clearly forced smile, she said, "No it's okay, I'm gonna ride with Bailey. I'm already in the car; we'll talk in Calculus okay? Bye."  
  
Bailey watched Justin's face drop as they pulled out of the driveway. If an image of Sarah's waiting face didn't burn into his mind he would've asked Julia what was going on.  
  
At school Julia avoided Justin at every turn. She ignored him through Calculus, "I'm just trying to pay attention. I'm having trouble with the chapter," she had lied. At lunch she palled around with Sarah, much to Bailey's dismay, b.s.-ing about an English assignment that she didn't really need help with. Her main goal for the day had been to avoid Justin while not allowing herself to be alone. She forced herself to keep busy, not wanting to think about what was most important.  
  
Finally Justin cornered her as she was heading to the library to research during her free period. He stopped her in the hall, leading her into the yearbook room, "We gotta talk."  
  
"We will, I just—I gotta go to the library right now."  
  
"It can wait." He shut the door behind them in the developing room, and he was struck by an eerie reminder of the time the two had been locked in the same room almost exactly a year before. Back then they both were always searching for an excuse to be alone together, to fool around, to learn what made the other moan. Now they knew each other's bodies intimately, yet Julia didn't want to be anywhere near him, and, while Justin was still in constant pursuit of her, the mood had changed drastically. It hurt him as he watched her roll her eyes at him and drop her backpack on the ground in defeat like she didn't want anything to do with him, like he was vile. At least before when she was avoiding him she was aloof and discrete about her feelings, now she was downright hostile.  
  
"What? What do you want from me?"  
  
"I want you to talk to me, please," he started to reach for her then thought better of it, raking his fingers through his hair, "We gotta talk about this. Don't shut me out."  
  
Julia sighed, the anger falling from her shoulders, replacing itself with grief. She was quiet for a long time.  
  
"I love you Julia."  
  
"That doesn't make this any easier."  
  
This time he did take her hand, "I think it does. You say you wanna keep it and that's fine. I'm happy. We'll have a baby, me and you. I'm here and I'm ready...okay I'm not ready, but I will be. And let's be honest, in your heart you knew we'd have kids together anyway. I know you did. After all, we're engaged to be engaged," he smiled, "so it's a little early...we—"  
  
"A little early? Justin we're barely seventeen," her voice cracked, "I can't talk about this."  
  
Justin pulled her into his arms as she began to cry, and he fought the urge to cry with her. As her body sullenly trembled within his embrace, he held on to her tighter, imagining the man he wanted to become, and then he knew, he just knew that he would be able to do this, to be a man, to take care of everything, "We're gonna be okay."  
  
His warm hands wiped away her tears and replaced them with gentle kisses, "We can do this Jule. We can stay at my house as long as we need to. I'll go to the office today, right now, and find out what we need to graduate early. We're basically done with this year and all that's required for next year is English 4 and Government, everything else is electives anyway. We could finish that in summer school. And maybe-"  
  
He felt her chest begin to heave against his as her breathing became ragged again, a panic taking over her, "Justin aren't you scared?? All of that is so fast! I can't even—"  
  
"Relax, relax," he cooed, reading her mind, "Then we'll take this one step, one day at a time, at least at first. We'll take this slow."  
  
Julia calmed herself, taking deep breaths. She stood quiet, listening to Justin's heartbeat in her ear. While her fears were far from gone, the warmth she felt in his arms along with the certainty of his voice made her feel safe. She looked into his eyes, for the first seeing that he was just as scared as her, and again she let him wipe away her tears, "I love you."  
  
Justin sighed with relief, "I love you too."  
  
Welp....whaddya think?? Review, review!! Chapter two is coming soon! 


	2. Chapter 2

Seven months later, Julia's belly swelled before her. The inadequacy she felt and the longing she'd had for her mother during her first trimester had come back with a vengeance. At night, she stayed awake trying to retrieve from her memory every detail about her mother that she could. She thought back to the way her mother held Owen when he was first born, the way she could coax Claudia into going to bed without a fight, the was she was just such a great mom. It made Julia miss her so much. Sometimes, Justin snored in the background to her thoughts, and sometimes he stayed up with her, kissing her forehead, and wiping her tears, "I'll take care of you," he'd always say.  
  
On this particular night, she thought back to the last time she'd spoken to Charlie.  
  
She came to the house to pick up some clothes, and generally give Justin's parents a rest. She had planned for her and Justin to stay the night once he got back from work at the news station. When she walked into the kitchen she found Charlie looking up movie times for Kirsten and him.  
  
He looked up at her and half-smiled, trying to be civil, "Well look who's here...God, you're almost there Julia."  
  
"Yeah," she sighed, sitting at the kitchen table, "I can't work at the restaurant anymore—doctor's orders. I haven't been sleeping well lately and he thinks quitting my job until I deliver would be best for the baby. So I gotta do it. I mean, I'm still struggling to gain that extra weight he said I needed."  
  
"You gotta take care of yourself, Jule," he said dryly.  
  
"Well, anyway...Listen, I'm having trouble remembering. When Mom had Owen, it was a surprise, of course, but was she ever upset about it?"  
  
"Not that I know of. I mean, she was 39 years old, not 17, with a husband and a job and practically grown kids who could take care of him anyhow. What would there be to be upset about?"  
  
Julia stared at him as he calmly circled something in the paper before opening the refrigerator for a soda, "You want some milk?"  
  
"Yeah." It irked her how he tried to hide the callousness of his statement with a calm tone. He had been being passively aggressive towards her a lot lately. She wanted to shrug it off, but she couldn't, "God, Charlie, and you wonder why I never come around anymore. How long are you gonna treat me like this? Cause the baby is coming, regardless. You said you were okay with this."  
  
"I never said that. I said that I would be here for you, support you, and I am. You need money, a crib, baby clothes, come to me, I'm here. But I never said that I was okay with this, because I'm not Julia. You're still a baby yourself."  
  
He sat the cup of orange juice before her, and Julia was certain that if she touched it, the anger that was building up inside of her towards Charlie would cause it to boil.  
  
"I don't need this Charlie. The baby is mine, and she's almost here, and I'm keeping her. Why should I have aborted this little person, or filled out forms to give her away? My own flesh and blood Charlie. Because I'm 17? I'm tired of having to explain myself to you at every damn turn," her voice remained steady as tears began to stream down her cheeks, "It is early, but Justin and I are special."  
  
Charlie shook his head, taken aback by her naiveté, "Julia—"  
  
"No, we are Charlie. He adores me, and we graduated early through summer school, they hired Justin full-time at the station, we still have a chance and opportunities, and if we don't have your support, fine, but Justin's parents have been there for us every step of the way. We're smart people. And if you wanna sit here and tell me that I'm not and that I'm throwing my life away, then I don't have anything else to say to you. Ever."  
  
He sighed and took a good, long look at his little sister. Her stretched out, contorted frame was so bizarre to gaze upon. It changed her so greatly, from the whiny and selfish yet adorable little Julia that wrote him cute letters about being forced to do the forbidden dance by apes in the Congo when she was twelve, to being this woman who worked quietly beside him at Salinger's, but now lived in a different house and probably wouldn't write anything else for a long time. She had changed so much already, and the birth of her daughter would only make the differences greater. He scratched his chin, "You were supposed to be so much more Jule."  
  
Julia was exasperated, "Fine."  
  
She struggled to push herself up from the table. When Charlie tried to help her, she pushed him away, "I can do it myself."  
  
And with a long hard push, she lifted herself from the spot and left the kitchen, "Good-bye, Charlie."  
  
She hadn't been back to the house in over a month. Claudia came by to see her at Justin's house every day though, and sometimes Bailey was with her. She did all that was in her 13 year old ability to comfort her sister. She kept tabs on Julia's shifting cravings and made sure that she had them. And she was there for Justin, too. She always admired the fact that he was sort of geeky and cool at the same time, sort of like her.  
  
Thinking about Claudia made her feel like a poor older sister, so she shut her eyes and decided to count sheep. Last night she'd reached 3,000 before giving up the fight and turning on the TV to watch blender infomercials. She wondered how far she'd get this time.  
  
The next day, she let Sarah talk her into going to the wharf with herself, Will, and Bailey. For that whole summer she hadn't felt much like running around with Sarah or Libby or Nina or anyone else her own age. She had too much to worry about, and sometimes, especially when she first began showing, she was embarrassed of how her peers would think of her. But Sarah's attitude remained bubbly as ever, she was a true friend. Plus, Justin would be away at work until later that afternoon. She wanted to get out of her head for a while so she went along.  
  
She'd laughed along at the silliness that always ensues when Will and Bailey were in the same place. And she'd raised her eyebrows at the gossip that Sarah had to tell her about some of the popular kids at school. But her biggest reaction came from someone else entirely.  
  
While the guys were excited about some trip to Mexico that she knew they didn't have time to take Julia was shaken by a familiar life. Just ahead of them was a group of guys, and left of the center stood Griffin, "Oh my God."  
  
"What's wrong Julia?" Sarah followed her gaze, "Oh."  
  
"Don't let him see me. Let's get out of here." 


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This takes place after the birth their baby.  
  
The wheels of the stroller made an almost soothing hum against the shiny linoleum floor of the grocery store, and James Gordon Salinger, Jamie, was soon fast asleep. Julia relished in the quiet and smiled to herself ant the fact that her life had been so altered that she found solace in the times that her daughter slept even if those times happen to occur in the middle of a Winn-Dixie. She began humming on her way to the isle with baby wipes, isle 13; she knew it well. This time, however, she took her time strolling up and down all of the isles, not wanting to jar Jamie awake any time soon. She fondled a bag of ramen noodles, remember the month when those and endless pizza's made up breakfast lunch and dinner right after her parents passed away. To this day she couldn't stand them, their taste easily compared to a union of paper and rubber. She cringed suddenly needing a piece of gum as she sat down the orange package.  
  
She cleared her mind and the hypnotic roll of the stroller wheels returned to her attention. Jamie yawned, and her little lips parted revealing a milky tongue. The sight of it made Julia smile for the second time that morning. When she looked up she saw a familiar suede jacket that stopped her in her tracks, "Griffin, you're back."  
  
"Yeah, I'm back," a moment lapsed between them. They held eyes and cosmic electricity or some such romantic phenomenon shot from him to here. But her remained aloof, feeling her out, "So, what are you baby-sitting?"  
  
Julia felt it too, "Um, do you have any gum?" ----------------- When Justin came home from work, Julia was in a bit of a trance while feeding Jamie in the living room. Justin made a bee-line for Julia, planting a soft kiss on her neck, "And how was your day?"  
  
"Fine."  
  
He slipped behind her, gently pulling her hair out of her face and behind her shoulders, "Yeah? And the munchkin, is she talking yet?"  
  
"No, not yet."  
  
Julia turned the channel, "I can't stand these new gap commercials."  
  
"So, I guess you don't have much to say?'  
  
"Nah. I mean what's to say? I've been running around with James all day. I'd much rather hear about your day at the studio."  
  
"Well...I kind of wanted to save this news for over dinner or something, but I guess I could tell you now." Enthused, he grabbed her by the waist and swiveled her around to face him, "Well, Brian Greenfield, our current weatherman, was offered an anchor position down-state, so the studio's looking for a replacement. And I didn't want to tell you this because if it didn't work out I'd feel like such a dork, but Jeanie, the prompt writer said, 'Why doesn't Justin read?'"  
  
"What? You?" She laughed.  
  
"I know, I know, that's exactly what I thought, and plus, you know, "weatherman," it seems so corny. But then, Julia, he smiled, slowing down, his heart warming as he caressed her cheek, "I thought about you, and I thought about Jamie, and I thought about that paycheck, and then I just knew that I had to try. And I did, I gave it everything, and baby, Jean let it slip that they loved me, and, of course, I've been working at the studio since last year anyway, and those friends on the inside really helped. Now it won't be official until Monday, but..."  
  
Julia was awestruck, she couldn't remember the last time something so great had happened to them, "So, wait. How much more, exactly, will you be making?"  
  
"Oh, enough for us to move out of my parents' house without even blinking, and maybe buy a couple of ponies along with our new furniture."  
  
"Oh my God!" She squealed, throwing her arms around him, "This is fantastic! We should celebrate. We gotta celebrate!" ------------------ During the weeks that followed Justin's announcement, Julia found herself happier than she'd ever been in a long time. James's birth had grown her up so suddenly, and she found that her teenage experience had left her in- apt for dealing with her new adult situations. But Justin's new job took a weight off of her shoulders, it gave her a chance to catch up.  
  
On this particular day, after putting Jamie down for a nap, Julia decided to pick up something that she hadn't found the time, or energy to do in ages. She pulled out her laptop and sat down to write. Unfortunately, amid the warmth of the mid-day light and the stillness of the sleepy, empty apartment, the only thing that came to her mind was her last encounter with Griffin. The way it was so out of nowhere. The way she avoided his questions abut Jamie, letting him believe that she was babysitting. The way she ended their conversation, "I gotta take the munchkin home."  
  
After she got pregnant, her letters to Griffin sort of ended. A few months ago, he'd written about being away on a ship, and that was it.  
  
He hadn't changed at all, Griffin. He had the same nonchalant manner about him, and still, Julia knew how to look past that. She knew he was anxious to really talk to her, to know if that chance, the reasoning behind his return to military school, was still attainable. Julia fiddled with her engaged-to-be-engaged cum engagement ring and sighed, her urge to write quickly fading.  
  
The ringing of the telephone pulled Julia away from her thoughts, "Hello?"  
  
"Julia!" shrieked Claudia's shrill voice on the other end of the line, "How could you not tell us you moved out of Justin's parents' house?"  
  
"Oh, Claud...Listen.—"  
  
"No you listen, I saw Justin on the news. He's the weatherman for Pete's sake! When were you going to tell us about that, huh?"  
  
"Claudia, wait a second."  
  
Again, she interrupted her, "What the hell is your problem, Julia? It's like you're not even a part of the family anymore. Is that what you want?"  
  
Julia bit her tongue, which left Claudia seething.  
  
"Oh, so now you don't have anything to say for yourself? Nothing?"  
  
"No, I just don't want to be interrupted again," she drew in a deep breath, daring Claudia to interrupt her again, "We've been in this house for a week, Claudia, okay, I was gonna tell you. And I was gonna tell you about the weatherman thing too."  
  
"When Julia?" she scoffed, "How hard is it to pick up a phone? Or have you become so removed from this family that you forgot your own phone number?!"  
  
Claudia was screeching at her sister with such intensity that Julia didn't even hear the hurt in her voice, "I'm 3 seconds away from hanging up on you."  
  
"No, Julia, wait," calmer now, Claudia began to let on to what her real problem was. "Did you even notice that its 12:15 and I'm calling you? It probably hasn't even crossed your mind that I'm not in school."  
  
"You didn't exactly give me a chance to put two and two together, but, now that you mention it, why aren't you at school?"  
  
"Things have gotten really crazy around the here Jule."  
  
Suddenly, Julia began to panic. This wouldn't be the first time that a crisis had erupted at the house unbeknownst to Julia due to her own self- involvement, "Well, what's going on? Is Owen okay?"  
  
"He's fine. It's everyone else that's messed up...Listen, can you come get me, can I come over, talk face to face with you? I mean, I have mail for you anyways, by the way, Griffin personally delivered a letter for you today. I never imagined him to be much of a writer. So, will come get me?"  
  
Julia's mind was neither here nor there. She worried about what was wrong with the family. When she was carrying Jamie she wasn't adult enough to deal with all of her fights with Charlie, so she ran away from him, and at times the rest of the family along with him. She had no idea that she had become so out of the loop. And...,"Yeah, Justin should be coming by for his lunch break here in a minute, we'll come and get you...But, um, what did you say to Griffin?" 


End file.
